BizBuySell is the largest business sale marketplace online. Recently, they surveyed over 3,000 small business owners and buyers to determine what the impact of COVID-19 pandemic has been on small business sales.

Essentially, BizBuySell found the following to be greatest impact:

Over half of US business owners closed or suspended some operations.
83% of restaurants closed down.
Over 59% of US businesses experienced reduced customer demand.
55% of business owners with employees had to lay off workers, though 60% starting to rehire them.
Approximately 25% of business owners offered their staff a work-from-home opportunity and 64% of small business owners planned to continue offering work-from-home options post-pandemic.
The pandemic has spurred 16% of business owners to exit their businesses earlier than they originally anticipated, while 20% plan to exit later than anticipated.

Happy to note that 18% of small business owners saw increased demand during pandemic.
68% of small business owners who saw a reduction in demand for their goods and services, fully expect it to return to pre-pandemic levels within a year.
Fully one-third of small business owners are looking to expand NOW through business acquisitions.
Over half of small business owners reported that this is a good time to buy a business at a good price and on favorable terms.
38% of current owners are buying a business as quickly as possible to take advantage of 6 months of free principal interest on SBA loans, a CARES Act benefit.
Impressively, 61% of small business owners said they would buy a closed business while 80% indicated interest in purchasing an open but negatively impacted business.

If you’d like to review the entire study, click here.

Check out our listings on BizBuySell by visiting our current listing page. For more information on buying and selling a business during a pandemic, check out these posts in our COVID-19 series.

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